The Republic of Rotuma was an unrealized attempt at creating an independent Rotuma starting in September 1987 after the second Fijian coup. A part-Rotuman man named Henry Gibson announced to the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

newspapers that he had declared the independence of

Rotuma Rotuma () is a self-governing heptarchy, generally designated a Local government in Fiji, dependency of Fiji. Rotuma commonly refers to the Rotuma Island, the only permanently inhabited and by far the largest of all the islands in the Rotuma Gro ...

from

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. Gibson proclaimed himself the King of Rotuma and gained a popular following on the island. Aims to create the republic were aborted in 1988, when advocates were tried with sedition.

References

Former unrecognized countries 1987 in Fiji 1988 in Fiji Former republics in Oceania Rotuma {{Oceania-hist-stub